On the second drive: rush, rush, rush, punt. Three plays, eight yards, 1:30.

“After the first two series, I was looking at my Uber app on my phone to see if they could get an SUV to come pick me up,” he said.

Then, finally, something downfield.

UCLA’s third offensive drive looked similarly dismal. Running back Jordon James, returning after a 3 1/2-game injury absence, took the ball up the middle and lost a yard.

Mazzone’s stubbornness gave. The ground game wasn’t working and, well, Colorado doesn’t exactly have the most intimidating secondary out there while allowing 7.5 yards per pass attempt.

“I finally said, ‘Screw it. Let’s just sling it down the field,’ ” he said.

Quarterback Brett Hundley reared back, then let the ball fly. A touch short, but receiver Devin Fuller twisted back a bit and hauled it in, then took it into the end zone for a 76-yard touchdown. With just 15 seconds left in the first quarter, the Bruins finally had a 7-3 lead.

Did it help the quarterback loosen up a bit?

“I have no idea, but it sure as hell made me feel better,” Mazzone said. “It was like ‘Whew, we can take a breath.’ ”

Bruins fans might be able to as well. After an uneven October, UCLA’s star quarterback looked like he regained some of his mojo returning to the Rose Bowl, even if it was against a team still searching for its first conference win. He finished 19 of 24 for 273 yards and two scores.

For all the hype he generated over the first few weeks of the season, Hundley has looked surprisingly pedestrian over the past few weeks. Most striking is his lack of field-stretching ability, whether by play call or missed throw.

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Entering Saturday, he had just eight pass plays of at least 30 yards — 10th in the Pac-12. Even USC’s Cody Kessler, who didn’t clinch the No. 1 job until after the start of the season, was sitting on 13.

On just his second throw of the night, Hundley eclipsed the meager 64-yard output he had a week ago at Oregon. He looked decent enough through the remaining three quarters, if not stellar. He went through his progressions a little more and picked up a few nice runs for a team-leading 72 yards on 11 carries. Two runs ended in the end zone.